This morning's
Portland (Me) Press Herald had this
piece on the front page, "Baldacci 'Foreign Policy' not so Foreign After All". For those of you that do not follow news from Maine, our governor has struck a deal with Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez to supply less expensive heating oil to lower income people.
While Bart Jansen's story contains much factual information, it reads more like a smear piece of Mr. Chavez. It begins thus:
Maine Gov. John Baldacci's decisions to make deals for heating oil with Venezuela and farm trade with Cuba may rankle the Bush administration, but the state is hardly alone in cooperating with those countries. The State Department has a Cuban trade embargo because of its totalitarian regime.
More after the fold:
Mr. Jansen does not cite anyone that might be considered unbiased or a Chavez supporter. Instead, he includes this from Michael Heath, executive director of the
Christian Civic League of Maine, whose expertise in foreign affairs was unknown to me:
"They're evil," he said of Castro and Chavez. "They're so bad, America's president won't have anything to do with them. If the president chooses as a matter of foreign policy not to have anything to do with these guys, Baldacci should follow that lead."
One is forced to wonder why Mr. Heath is not applauding heating oil assistance, as Jesus spoke at some length about helping the poor. At least Pat Robertson was not sought for his views.
Mr. Jansen also uses our State Department as an authority, the very same one whose former head put on a dispicable performance at the UN, or that did much to destabilize the elected government in Haiti:
The U.S. State Department describes Cuba as a totalitarian state with a poor human-rights record for routinely harassing economists, doctors and lawyers while strictly censoring the press.
-snip-
As for Venezuela, Chavez was chosen in "generally free and fair elections," according to the State Department, so relations between the countries are more routine than with the isolated Cuba.
It is a wonder why The Carter Center was not contacted for their comments, as they had observers in Venezuela to report on the election. Nor does Mr. Jansen provide any viewpoint from those that support Mr. Chavez, or from any group that is unbiased.
This sort of "reporting" is better left for the Op/Ed page, where misinformation is better tolerated.